1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a program recording device which records data of a broadcast program into a hard disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a usual general family, a television program or the like has been recorded into a video tape by a video tape recorder (VTR). However, with a standardization of an encoding method of images or the like, a recording device recently appears which records the television program into a hard disk as data.
The device of this type is provided with a hard disk of big capacity and therefore, can record a large number of programs into the hard disk. However, there is a limit about data amount which can be recorded in the hard disk of the program recording device. Further, the hard disk of the program recording device can not be exchanged easily, unlike a video tape used for a video tape recorder.
To overcome the problem to an extent, many methods for re-compressing of data in a hard disk has been proposed to record as many programs as possible.
In Japanese Laid Open Publication No. 2000-217063, a device is disclosed which re-compresses data of programs stored in a hard disk.
According to the device, the data of the programs are re-compressed when a space area of the hard disk falls below a predetermined volume. The programs which are object of a re-compression process are selected automatically based on a priority designated by a user.
Also, In Japanese Laid Open Publication No. 2000-341627, a device is disclosed which repeats a re-compression process of data of programs in every predetermined period or performs the re-compression process when it is anticipated that there is no space area in a hard disk.
Alternatively, a device is proposed which automatically selects a program to be recorded based on designated tastes of a user (for example, designated by a keyword, a category, or the like), and it is deleted from data of a program of old recording date (and time) when a space area of a hard disk falls below a predetermined volume. In this case, data of programs which are manually designated by a user are not deleted by the above automatic deletion.
Further, in the device disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Publication No. 2000-217063, a user must designate a priority of each program for re-compression, and therefore, the user is compelled to perform a complex operation.
On the other hand, in the device disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Publication No. 2000-341627, since data of programs are re-compressed in every predetermined period or when there is no extra space in a hard disk, a user can not control a time when a re-compression process is performed, on the contrary, the data of the programs may be re-compressed to an undesirable compression rate at an undesirable moment.
Further, in a conventional device which deletes data of a program having the oldest recording date, data of a program which a user wants to keep are automatically deleted.